Monday, March 29, 2010

I'm in a charm swap group - we send in 25 charms of one fabric, and get back 25 different ones. Each month there's a theme; the theme for January was "batiks." I was a bit disappointed when I got my envelope this time - 13, meaning over half, of the charms were NOT true batiks.

A true batik is the same, or very nearly the same on one side as it is on the other. You really can't tell which is the "right" side. True batiks are made using a wax-resist dying technique. A wanna-be batik has a design on one side, and is faded out on the other.

Below are four of the charms I received. They all look like batiks on this side, though an experienced eye can already tell that the two on the right are just a swirled design. (Ignore the feet that crept their way into the photos!)

In the photo below, I've flipped them over - you can see the two on the left still look the same; the two on the right have the faded back side.

Why is this a big deal? When you're using batiks, you can piece much quicker when you know you don't have to worry about a "right" side. Both sides are "right" sides. This is especially significant for paper piecing.

Friday, March 26, 2010

I didn't know I hadn't posted these yet! These are my February blocks for the Quilting Bee Swap on the Quilting Message Board. These were made for me by Deb W, who used some fabulous southwestern-colored batiks for these two designs. These are just gorgeous!

These two blocks were made for me by Laurie S, my March partner for the Quilting Bee Swap on the Quilting Message Board. I like the batik in the mountain block - looks like trees on the mountain. Both of these are great additions to the quilt that will be made from this swap.